Our concern is that the U.S. Department of State will find excuses to avoid imposing sanctions or simply not acknowledge or respond to violations in Russia or elsewhere. This they have done often. For example, the British have just released a report admitting their security forces murdered attorney Patrick Finucane in Northern Ireland. Of course, Prime Minister David Cameron was as "shocked" as Captain Renault in the film Casablanca, but he was clever enough to never acknowledge who pulled the trigger or who ordered the killing. The silence from the Department of State is deafening!

Michael J. Cummings, Albany, N.Y.

The writer is a member of the national board of the Irish American Unity Conference.